Understanding the Climate Impacts of Hydrogen Emissions

Renewable hydrogen (RH2), produced from renewable feedstocks, can replace fossil fuels to help decarbonize some of the heaviest polluting and hardest-to-electrify sectors, such as industrial processes and maritime shipping. However, recent research underscores the risk of hydrogen emissions— the hydrogen molecules that we release into the atmosphere— in warming the climate.

Research from the Environmental Defense Fund and others shows strong climate benefits when using RH2 made from renewable electricity and water in place of fossil fuels, but those benefits vary depending on how much hydrogen is emitted into the atmosphere. The climate benefits from a well-regulated, clean, and renewable …

Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Plan

The Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Plan (the Plan) outlines the strategic high-level focus areas of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program (the Program). The term “Hydrogen Program” refers not to any single office within DOE, but rather to the cohesive and coordinated effort of multiple offices that conduct research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) activities on hydrogen technologies.

This edition of the Hydrogen Program Plan reflects DOE’s focus on conducting coordinated RDD&D activities to enable the adoption of hydrogen technologies across multiple applications and sectors. It reflects important changes since 2020, including updated supporting data and analysis, a …

2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report

The Energy Act of 2020 calls for the U.S. Department of Energy to make available to the public an update to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s prior study entitled United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (2016). This report, designed to meet that Congressional request, estimates historical data center electricity consumption back to 2014, relying on previous studies and historical shipment data. This report also provides a scenario range of future demand out to 2028 based on new trends and the most recent available data.…

Insight Brief: Thermal Energy Networks for Utility Carbon Reduction

As natural gas and electric utilities work to reduce carbon emissions, they are evaluating paths to help customers decarbonize building heat. Policymakers in several states recently crafted legislation encouraging utility regulators and utilities to explore the role thermal energy networks (TENS) could play.

TENS are time-tested outside the utility construct–and offer high potential for locally-sourced, low-carbon heating and cooling. However, cost and complexity have limited usage to universities and district heating zones. Utility-led TENs could help overcome these barriers, unlock deployment for targeted decarbonization, and mitigate grid stress of other load growth. Several utilities are now in the process of …

Inside the Race to the Top

Cleantech has unleashed a global revolution, driven from the bottom up. Three major blocs — Europe, the United States, and China — are in a race to the top on cleantech. Yet, the real frontier of change lies within — at the country, state, and province level inside each bloc.

In a new report, Inside the Race to the Top, RMI looks at the energy transition across more than 110 territories across the three blocs. It is a follow up to a previous report on cleantech progress in the United States, China, and Europe. It digs deeper into the local …

The Balancing Act: Risks and Benefits of Integrating Permanent Carbon Removals into the EU ETS

A joint report from Clean Air Task Force and CONCITO analyses and provides recommendations to address potential impacts on 1) the functioning and integrity of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and 2) short and long-term demand for permanent carbon removals, if permanent carbon removals are to be integrated into the EU ETS as part of the 2026 review of the system.

The report examines the integration of permanent carbon removals into the EU ETS through four approaches:

– Without restrictions
– With a maintained emissions cap
– With supply controls
– Via an intermediary institution

Assessment criteria focusing on …

The End of Oil

It is now plausible to envision scenarios in which global demand for crude oil falls to essentially zero by the end of this century, driven by a combination of improvements in clean energy technologies and adoption of increasingly stringent climate policies. This paper asks what such a demand decline might mean for global oil supply once the industry adopts a belief that the decline is upon it. One concern is the well-known “green paradox”: because oil is an exhaustible resource, producers may accelerate near-term extraction in order to beat the demand decline. This reaction would increase near-term CO2 emissions and …

New Perspectives for Financing Nuclear New Build: Financing, Market Design and Project Management in Nuclear New Build

Realising the full contribution of nuclear energy to achieving net zero targets requires mastering the challenge of financing and constructing significant numbers of new reactors. This new NEA report shows that this entails treating the financing and the management of new nuclear construction projects as interrelated issues in the framework of electricity systems designs appropriate for the low-carbon energy transition. “Hybrid markets” will thus combine competitive short-term dispatch with centrally co-ordinated incentives for long-term investment. The benefits of nuclear energy at the level of the energy system on the one hand and the current size of nuclear construction risk on …

Opening Early Market for Low-Carbon Building Materials in China

The report, Opening Early Market for Low-Carbon Building Materials in China, examines the critical role of public procurement in accelerating the adoption of low-carbon building materials in China. Building materials account for over 20 percent of China’s total CO₂ emissions, with cement and steel being the largest contributors. With embodied carbon emissions accounting for 41 percent of a building’s total life-cycle emissions, prioritizing low-carbon materials is critical to reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment.

The report identifies key challenges to establishing a comprehensive low-carbon procurement system, including economic feasibility, lack of carbon accounting rules and carbon metrics, and …

The Energy Code Safe Harbor Toolkit: Plug-and-Play Energy Code Proposals that Promote Heat Pumps in New Buildings

A growing number of cities and states are eager to make meaningful progress on decarbonizing buildings to achieve climate targets, enhance quality of life for all residents and businesses, and improve energy efficiency. New construction poses an irreplaceable opportunity to build smart from the start: it is the most cost-effective time to improve efficiency and helps prepare the workforce to decarbonize existing homes and businesses. To do this, leaders need policies that make zero-emission new construction the norm and comply with the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA).

In 2023 a federal court decision introduced a new interpretation of …